


What We Were

by secretlyadreamer



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: F/M, Kinda, M/M, Oops, Sad, book shop, coffee shop AU, sorry michael, then happy, then sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 01:22:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretlyadreamer/pseuds/secretlyadreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘No, no, this can’t be happening,’ Luke thought. He pulled on the door handle one more time, hoping, praying, that it would just magically unlock and open for him. But, no, no such luck. </p><p>Or the one where Luke looks back on his relationship with Ashton.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What We Were

**Author's Note:**

> So this was actually an english assignment that I had and i just changed the names. Poor Mikey I'm sorry :(  
> Second fic.  
> ~ symbolize change in time like past and present. It starts off in present then goes to past.  
> \- symbolize a scene change

Today marked four years. Four years since his best friend, his soul mate, and his reason to live had, well, stopped living. Luke sat on the deck of their, his, house. It was right on the beach, the way he’d always wanted it. From where he was sitting he could clearly see the waves crashing on the shore; the sun setting behind them. His sister had taken him out shopping today to keep his mind off of him. But now, he was alone, free to let his mind wander wherever it wanted. And that’s exactly what he let it do.  
~

_‘No, no, this can’t be happening,’ Luke thought. He pulled on the door handle one more time, hoping, praying, that it would just magically unlock and open for him. But, no, no such luck._

_Everyday this bookstore is open; that’s why it was his favorite. Well, apparently, it was open every day but today. The only reason he was at the bookstore was because he had forgotten to get the textbook that he needed for his Psychology class. He only remembered that he needed it last night because his teacher had emailed out a reminder telling everyone to bring their textbooks to class tomorrow, now today. So, first thing in the morning, actually around eleven o’clock but that’s morning to him, he ran out to get this required textbook. This obviously didn’t go too well._

_Turning his back to the shop, he faced the street. No one was driving, or walking for that matter, down this way because the bookshop was located on some side street off another side street which was off the main road. The only things that were actually located on this street were some storage units, a couple apartment buildings, and at the very end of the street, a coffee shop. Seeing no one coming to his rescue, he sat down on the sidewalk and took out some leftover homework he didn’t do and started to write. He figured he’d get it done while he waited for an employee to open the shop._

_By the time he had finished his homework, the store was still closed. He was getting worried now, his class started in less than two hours and he didn’t have the book he needed. He was about to sit down again when the worst thing happened._

_Well, not the worst. But still pretty bad. It started to rain. No, not just dribble or rain, it started to downpour._

_He quickly grabbed his bag and made a beeline for the coffee shop. When he actually reached the coffee shop, it was a longer distance than previously thought, he was thoroughly soaked._

_‘Great! Just what I need,’ he thought. He entered the shop (he liked how the bell rang when he opened the door), and was immediately greeted by the scent of coffee, which well, it was a coffee shop after all. He looked around the shop and noticed that he was one of the two people that were actually in the shop; the other being a guy, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, that was standing behind the counter. The boy (man?) behind the counter looked up when he heard the bell ring and smiled._

_The soaked boy, who still hadn’t moved from the door, walked over to the counter and smiled._

_“Uh, hi. Can I get a regular coffee? No sugar or anything,” he asked. He looked at the boy behind the counter; he had a nametag on, ‘Ashton. That fits him,’ Luke thought. The boy-Ashton smiled at him and nodded. Ashton had curly, sandy colored hair, and from what Luke saw, green eyes that were framed in black, square glasses._

_“Name?” Ashton asked. ‘His voice sounds like honey,’ the boy thought._

_“Do you really need my name? We’re the only ones in here,” Luke said._

_“Fair enough,” Ashton laughed and turned around to start making Luke’s coffee._

_Luke pulled out his phone to check the time, thankful that it hadn’t gotten wet, and saw that he only had an hour until his class. He sighed softly, or what he thought was soft. When he looked back up he saw that Ashton had finished making the coffee and was looking at him with a look of what had to be worry._

_“Something bothering you?” Ashton asked. He handed Luke his coffee and took the money that he had pulled out of his pocket with his phone before leaning against the counter._

_“No, not really. Well, kind of, yes,” Luke said he smiled a little when he saw Ashton start to laugh. ‘Man, he’s a pretty cheerful guy,’ Luke thought._

_“So which is it, yes or no?” the curly haired boy asked._

_Luke hesitated before answering, “I guess, yes,” he said finally. Ashton raised his eyebrows and Luke took that as a sign to continue. “It’s just that I really needed this book for my psychology class, which I have in less than an hour, and I was planning on getting it this morning, but the bookstore is closed,” he said._

_Ashton’s eyes widened before asking, “What book was it?”_

_“Um, it was called, uh… Intro to Psych Volume Two, or something like that,” Luke said. He jumped when Ashton quickly ducked behind the counter. He hopped back up a couple seconds later with a red textbook in his hands._

_“Is this the book you needed?” Ashton asked, handing the book to Luke. Luke looked at the cover and well, yeah, it was exactly what he needed._

_“Yeah, it is. How did you get this?” He asked._

_“Some kid left it here a couple weeks ago and never came back for it. I just remembered reading the title and well,” Ashton said shrugging. He smiled wide when he saw the smile on Luke’s face._

_“This is amazing! Thank you so, so much,” he exclaimed. He flung his arms over the counter to awkwardly give Ashton a hug._

_“Don’t thank me, thank that poor kid who forgot his textbook,” Ashton said, he scratched the back of his neck once Luke, who was blushing like a mad man, had released him._

_“Well, again, thank you,” Luke said before looking at the time on his phone again. He saw that he only had half an hour before his class started and figured it was time to leave. “I have to go, see you later,” he wasn’t really sure if there was going to be a later but he figured that it would be rude to lie to Ashton after he saved him from his little disaster._

_Ashton smiled and waved goodbye before Luke left, the bell ringing behind him. He made it to his class ten minutes early, prepared, unlike some other students and grinned to himself._

_-_

_Six days later and Luke hadn’t been back to the coffee shop. He hadn’t had time to go and also he didn’t want to seem too excited to see Ashton again._

_Over the two days Luke hadn’t stopped thinking of him. He could still hear his laugh and was constantly thinking things like, ‘I wonder if Ashton likes this show,’ or ‘I wonder what Ashton’s favorite cereal is,’ it was driving his roommate, Calum, crazy._

_The first time Calum asked about Ashton was because Luke accidently said, “I wonder what bands Ashton likes,” when he and Calum were listening to the radio in the car._

_“Who’s Ashton?” Calum asked. Calum was driving them home from the movie they had just seen._

_“What?”_

_“You just said that you wondered what bands Ashton likes. Who’s Ashton?” Calum repeated._

_“Oh, um, he’s just some guy I met at a coffee shop. He saved me from getting in trouble with my psych professor,” Luke said looking out the window so Calum wouldn’t see his blush._

_“Just some guy?” Calum asked teasingly. “Was he hot?” This made Luke blush even harder and look at Calum. Luke had already told Calum that he was gay, so his question didn’t come as much of a shock to him._

_“Yeah,” he muttered._

_“I’m sorry what? I didn’t quite catch that,” Calum teased._

_“I said, yeah, he was hot,” Luke couldn’t get rid of the red in his cheeks. Calum laughed at Luke’s discomfort. “You’re such a jerk,” Luke said._

_“Aw, come on. You know I’m just messing with you,” Calum said still laughing._

_“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Luke didn’t pout, he didn’t._

_“Are you going to ask him out?” Calum asked._

_“I’m not sure,”_

_“You should, I mean what’s the worst that could happen?”_

_“I could catch on fire and burn the whole building down,” Luke concluded. Calum just looked at him, eyebrow cocked, and Luke could tell that Calum was going to make him do it._

_-_

_And well, he was right. Calum had driven him to the coffee shop the next morning. He was going to take Luke the night before but it was already past nine and he figured the coffee shop wouldn’t be open at that hour._

_So, now, Luke was pacing outside the car on the side of the building where Calum had parked and was, to put it lightly, freaking out._

_“What if I trip on the way in? What if I spill coffee on myself? Or worse, him? What if he’s not even gay? Do you know how horrible that would be?” Luke turned towards Calum who was leaning up against the wall, playing some game on his phone._

_“Just relax,” Calum said in a voice that was way too calm for Luke’s liking._

_“Relax? Relax?!” Luke yelled. “You’re the only reason I’m doing this!”_

_“No, I’m not. You’re doing this because you like Andrew, or whatever his name is, and you want to take him on a date,” Calum concluded. He finally looked up from his phone when he heard Luke mutter a ‘his name’s Ashton.’_

_“Listen, you’re gonna do great, I believe I you. And if he’s not gay, well, just don’t think about that…” Calum trailed off._

_“Thanks, I guess,”_

_“Now, go in there and get yourself a hot date,” Calum laughed pushing Luke to the door._

_He stumbled through the door, almost tripping. The bell above the door rang when he entered, alerting everyone he was here. He looked up and made eye contact with the person he was here to see; the only other person in the shop, again._

_“I was wondering when ‘later’ would come,” Ashton laughed and Luke smiled._

_‘God, I missed his laugh,’ he thought._

_He walked over to where Ashton was standing at the counter._

_“Hey,” Luke said. He leaned against the counter, trying to look cool, but he slipped and almost fell, again. Ashton looked amused._

_“Hi,” he laughed. “So, what can I get ya?”_

_“Your number,” Luke said quickly, than blushed because, yeah, he said that out loud. Ashton laughed._

_“I’m sorry but I don’t give my number out to strangers,” he said. Luke looked down._

_“Oh,” he said. Albeit, he was a little, a lot, upset._

_“But,” Ashton began, “if you give me your name, we wouldn’t be strangers anymore,” he concluded. Luke looked up. He smiled than counted to three before answering._

_“Luke, I’m Luke,” He said sticking his hand out. Ashton grabbed it and shook it._

_“Well, nice to meet you Luke,” he pointed to his name tag and said, “I’m Ashton,” Luke smiled._

_“So, would you by any chance want to go out on a date with me?” Luke asked blushing. He seems to do that a lot since he met Ashton._

_“Well, Luke, I’d love too,” Luke didn’t think he’d ever found himself smiling that big.”What do you think about tomorrow night, at seven, we go to dinner and then maybe bowling?” Ashton suggested._

_“That sounds great,” Luke confirmed. “Meet here?”_

_“Perfect,”_

_~_

Luke stood up and felt a tear roll down his cheek. He went inside to get a drink. He went to the kitchen, grabbed a cup from the cabinet, and filled it with water before returning to his seat outside. He still remembers the first date they had gone on.  
~

_He had already changed his outfit three times and yet here he was changing for a fourth time. Calum was sitting in the corner watching some funny, according to him, video on Youtube._

_“Hey, Luke, you gotta come check out this video,” Calum laughed, “it’s hilarious,”_

_“Calum,” he dragged out, “I can’t right now, I have to finish getting ready for my date with Ashton,” He took off the red t-shirt was wearing, before putting on a plaid button-up._  
 _He figured that since they were only going to dinner than bowling, he didn’t have to dress up too much. He had about twenty minutes before he was supposed to meet Ashton at the coffee shop. The two had been texting non-stop since their coffee shop meeting. Luke figured this was a good thing, so this way there wouldn’t be any awkward first date conversations._

_“Aw come on, you don’t have to meet him for like another hour-“_

_“Twenty minutes,”_

_“Whatever, just come watch,” Calum whined._

_-_

_Luke ended up leaving the house ten minutes later; he had to run in order to meet Ashton at the coffee shop on time._  
 _The two went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and were almost kicked out due to their little ‘food fight’. They laughed it off, no harm, no foul. Then they walked to a bowling alley close by. They ended up playing until the manager had told them that they were closing. Ashton ended up winning four games while Luke only won one._

_“Aw, that’s cool we can’t all be master bowlers,” Ashton had joked when Luke pouted about how he lost._

_They walked back to the coffee shop and split ways after making plans to go out again soon. Luke watched Ashton walk to the end of the street before turning to go home. When he did get home it was a little after eleven and Calum had already gone to bed. After getting ready, Luke had gotten into his own bed and decided that, yeah, he can’t wait to do that again._

~

By now, the sun had set and the moon was high and bright in the sky. The stars were out and Luke could see all the constellations that Ashton had taught him on their second date, a moonlit picnic. It was still warm out so he didn’t feel the need to go inside yet. He remembered how Ashton didn’t like him being out this late when he was alone. Luke found it a little frustrating when they argued about things like that; petty things that didn’t matter.

~

  
 _A month after their first date Luke and Ashton had made it official. They had introduced each other to their friends, Ashton having a lot more than just his roommate. They were in a state of bliss._

_Until one night when they had a particularly large fight. They had had little fights before but mostly about little things like what music to listen to or what movie character was better. But this fight was not like those._

_Luke had been watching a movie at home that night with Calum. Ashton, however, went out because it was his friend Michael’s birthday. He had invited Luke to come with him, but Luke had an early test the next morning, so he passed. He and Ashton had been texting most of the night, Ashton asking about the movie and Luke asking about the party. When Ashton hadn’t texted him back in an hour, Luke figured that his friends were keeping him busy, so Luke went to bed._

_But at two o’clock in the morning he got a call from Ashton asking Luke to come pick him up at the bar where he and his friends were. Luke did of course. He grabbed Calum’s keys and took his car to the bar._

_Apparently, Michael had too much to drink and got into a fight with Ashton, when he tried to stop Michael from drinking anymore. And since Michael was Ashton’s ride, he needed Luke to pick him up. Ashton had called Michael’s girlfriend to come pick Michael up._

_The fight happened between Luke and Ashton occurred when they were in the car on the way to Ashton’s apartment. All Luke had said was that he didn’t think Michael was the best influence on Ashton. Ashton had a rough night with Michael and had been ready to explode, and what Luke said set him off._

_Ashton claimed that Luke didn’t have any right to say that Michael was a bad influence. Luke said that he didn’t mean anything by it, he just didn’t want Ashton to get hurt._  
 _Ashton told Luke to stop the car and let him out. Luke didn’t listen. He wasn’t going to let Ashton walk around on his own in the middle of the night after having a couple of drinks. He cared too much for him to do that. And so, they just continued arguing, Ashton yelling at Luke, who continued to speak in a calm voice which just made Ashton angrier. They argued until Luke pulled up in front of Ashton’s apartment. Ashton got out of the car without saying anything. Luke drove home in silence. When he got home he went to bed and got up in the morning for his test. The two didn’t speak for a week._

~

Luke remembers how he failed that test. He remembers how when they made up it was only because Calum had gotten sick of seeing Luke upset and called Ashton himself. They met at the coffee shop that afternoon. They both saw how miserable and upset they were without each other and made up. Luke never said anything about Michael again and Ashton stopped hanging out with him eventually.

~

_One year later and Ashton had proposed. Obviously, Luke said yes, he would’ve been a fool not to. Calum squealed like a little girl when Luke told him._

_Four months after that, the pair had been standing at the altar with hundreds of eyes on them; both boys had big families._

_Luke remembers staring into Ashton’s eyes while the priest was talking and seeing the same thing he saw in them the first day they had met. He remembers that he was happier than he’d ever been before. They said ‘I do’ and went to the reception. They cut the cake and had their first dance as a married couple._

~

Luke had never danced so much in his life. He laughed really hard when Calum had given his toast as best man. Telling everyone the story of how Luke had thought he was going to burn the building down when he first asked Ashton out. Luke remembers how big of a part Calum played in his relationship. He remembers saying goodbye to everyone when he and Ashton left for their honeymoon in Barbados.

He remembers what happened a few months after they got back.

~

Luke was at home cooking dinner. He was making spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner, nice and simple because he knew Ashton was going to be home late. Ashton had just gotten a new job at a law firm and had been working hard on his first case. Luke understood how much Ashton wanted to make a good first impression and was very supportive of his blossoming career.

Luke remembers how he had just taken the bread out of the oven when his phone rang. It turned out to be one of Ashton’s coworkers. That should’ve been the first sign of trouble. The coworker told Luke that there had been an accident, and that Luke should come to St. Mary’s hospital by Ashton’s office. Luke had never driven that fast in his life.  
He got to the hospital and was met by the man he had talked to on the phone. He had introduced himself as Paul. Luke asked where Ashton was. Paul looked down. Luke pushed past him and went to the receptionist, he asked her where Ashton Irwin-Hemmings was. She told him that he was in surgery currently and that Luke would have to wait in the waiting room until the doctor found him.

Luke remembers waiting, and waiting, and waiting, until four hours later when the doctor called Ashton’s name out. Luke stood up quickly and went to the doctor. He asked what happened. The doctor explained that Ashton had been crossing the street to the conveniences store across the street and how someone ran the red light and hit him. Luke didn’t cry just asked him how Ashton was. The doctor told him that Ashton didn’t make it out of surgery. He told him he was sorry. Luke fell to the floor. Tears ran down his face and sobs escaped his mouth. The doctor asked if there was anyone he could call. Luke muttered out Calum’s number. Calum picked him up thirty minutes later. He didn’t leave Luke’s side for two days.

-

Luke remembers the days leading to the funeral and the days following, they’re a blur, but he remembers. The funeral itself wasn’t a blur, he remembers it clear as day. He remembers Ashton’s family crying, remembers how he consoled them, restraining himself from crying until he could be alone. He remembers how it first felt to be a widow, it felt like never ending silence, like their first fight all over again but a thousand times more painful.

He remembers how everyday he’s cry a little bit less, until he saw something of Ashton’s and the cycle started again.

The first anniversary of Ashton’s death was horrible; no one would leave Luke alone afraid of how he would cope. All he wanted to do was lay in bed wrapped in one of Ashton’s old sweatshirts and cry. That’s all. He remembers the feeling of losing the best thing that ever happened to him.

Luke remembers how that bookstore being closed all those years ago was the second best thing that ever happened to him.


End file.
